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A man who robbed a NYC Diamond District store of $4 million worth of jewelry in 2019 must serve 14 years in prison, prosecutors argued Monday.
New surveillance footage of the fedora thief carrying out the robbery in midtown Manhattan was also released as part of a new conviction filed by federal prosecutors.
Stills from the video show Jaysean Sutton, 43, dressed in a fedora and blue suit brandishing a gun in the back room of the Avianne and Co. jewelry store.
He and two others then tied up employees with zip ties and duct tape. The three thieves, including Sutton, Pedro Davila, 30 and a final unnamed suspect, then made off with about $3.4 million worth of jewelry, US attorney Alexander Li wrote.
After fleeing the state, Sutton was arrested at a North Carolina hotel in October 2019, the submission said.
Sutton, who was sentenced to five drug and firearms charges before the robbery, pleads guilty to the robbery at the jewelry store in January this year.
Sutton pleads guilty to jewelry store in January – the thief can be seen here pulling out a gun from the shop
An image released Monday as part of a conviction shows Sutton taking one of the store’s employees into a room and forcing him to open a safe at gunpoint
Sutton has been convicted of at least five firearms and drug charges in New York and Connecticut. He was arrested a few months after the robbery at a North Carolina hotel
The stolen items are said to be worth $3.4 million, according to federal prosecutor Alexander Li, which he said was an indication of “the brutality of the crime.”
The West 47th Street store is known for catering to several celebrities, including Nicki Minaj and Migos.
On August 25, 2019 at around 11:30 am – just 10 days after being paroled – Sutton entered the jewelry store with Davila and the unnamed accomplice.
At around 11:42 a.m., Sutton met several employees in a back room of the store, Li says in the submission.
As he sat talking to them in the room, Sutton brandished a silver pistol before instructing them on the floor and tying up four of the store employees with duct tape and zip ties, Li wrote.
Once safe, Sutton began looting the store and used his gun to force one of the employees into another room to open a locked safe.
Part of the entry—a still from the surveillance footage—shows Sutton at the vault with the tethered employee.
Over the course of 15 minutes, the three thieves threw various pieces of jewelry into large bags as employees lay tied up on the floor, footage showed.
Sutton, Davila and the last unnamed thief then searched the rest of the store and left around 11:58 a.m. with an estimated $3.4 million worth of jewelry in their bags.
A few months later, on October 7, 2019, Sutton was arrested at a North Carolina hotel.
In January of this year, Sutton pleaded guilty to both the robbery and the minor offenses of possession of the firearm.
Armed thieves committed the afternoon robbery at the Avianne & Co jeweler. in New York City’s Diamond District
Jaysean Sutton, 43, and Pedro Davila (pictured), 30, are two of three suspects in the Avianne and Co robbery. in 2019 in Manhattan’s Diamond District
Avianne and Co. have a history of selling jewelry to celebrities, including rappers like Migos and Blueface (left)
Sutton has had a number of previous convictions and has spent several times in prison on charges related to firearms and drugs.
In 2000, Sutton was charged with drug and weapons offenses in New York, for which he was sentenced to six months in prison.
And in 2002, he was found guilty of Connecticut offenses and firearms, for which he received a total of three years in prison.
Then in 2003 he was sentenced to five years in prison for a criminal offense in Connecticut.
In 2005, he was convicted of another gun offense in Connecticut and sentenced to one year in prison.
He eventually received his longest sentence of five years in prison for a New York firearms offense in 2007.
Now prosecutor Alexander Li is demanding a 14-year prison term for Sutton. He wrote in the submission to the federal judge:
Sutton robbed a jewelry store in Midtown Manhattan in broad daylight and rolled over high-definition surveillance footage. In front of the camera, Sutton brandished a pistol as employees lay tied up on the ground.
“While the $3.4 million he looted is not a perfect measure of the seriousness of his crime, it is indicative of the brutality of the crime in the public consciousness.”